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OSSINING, N.Y. — TheDailyOssining.com accepts signed, original letters to the editor. Letters may be emailed to letters@thedailyossining.com. To the Editor, It's voting time yet again! Not to be confused with the recent infrastructure project bond, this is the annual budget and it comes with a tax increase, so understanding it is important.

On the demand side, the student population continues to grow. On the cost side, unfunded mandates and the standard set of rising costs continue to push expenses up. On the funding side, the slow economy produces less, so schools feel the pinch.

On the performance side, the Ossining School district continues to outperform many other local districts, despite prior belt tightening and lack of "financial opportunity" that other districts enjoy. Furthermore, Ossining’s performance often far exceeds communities in similar economic standing.

As always, I look for educated voters. For budgets, if you are uninformed, you should trust the people dedicating their livelihood to our district and support it.

If you are well versed, you know this budget has absorbed new demand, reduced costs, a large one being the cost, not quality, of teacher's health benefits, yet retained the district’s ability to perform strongly.

Quality and cost of schools affect everyone. When outsiders consider buying into our community, they review the cost of housing, taxes, municipal services and quality of schools.

With no disrespect to our sanitation employees, because I think they do a great job, I have yet to ever hear someone pass on a home purchase because "garbage collection" wasn't great.

Please consider, even in these tough times, voting 'Yes' to make our community continue to thrive.